9/11 Families Statement on Meeting with New York City Mayor Eric Adams
9/11 Families Chair Terry Strada Says Families & Survivors Are Grateful For The Mayor’s Support, Once Again Asks Why President Biden Won’t Meet With Them As Well
Washington, D.C. – 9/11 Families United, which serves thousands of families and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, released the following statement regarding a meeting yesterday with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The City Hall meeting was held to discuss the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing effort to “sportswash” its reputation, including with a Saudi-funded women’s golf tournament being held next month at Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, and more broadly to discuss recently declassified documents, most of which were not made available to the 9/11 Commission. These new documents further demonstrated Saudi funding and support for al-Qaeda and the 9/11 hijackers.
“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with Mayor Adams and to discuss our ongoing efforts in federal court for accountability and transparency around the 9/11 attacks, including the role that individuals in the Saudi government played in supporting it,” said Terry Strada of 9/11 Families United, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11. “Mayor Adams agreed with us that the recently declassified evidence about the Saudi role in 9/11 deserves the attention of the American people and we are grateful for his support.”
“It is our continued hope that all elected leaders, particularly President Biden, will support our efforts to hold the Kingdom accountable and to finally have the transparency that the 9/11 families and survivors deserve. It is very disappointing that even as we approach the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and his third year in the White House, President Biden is the only sitting President in the last 20 years who has refused to meet with the 9/11 community,” Strada concluded.
In July, 9/11 Families United wrote a letter to the White House requesting an in-person meeting with President Biden to discuss the importance of holding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to account for its government agents and government-sponsored institutions that gave the support needed for al Qaeda and the 9/11 hijackers to carry out the September 11 Attacks. The request for an in-person meeting by the 9/11 community, which has been made multiple times, was made following the President’s public fist-bump and long meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in Jeddah.
When asked by a reporter for POLITICO at the White House press briefing on Wednesday, July 27th if the President would meet with the 9/11 families, spokesman John Kirby declined comment and further declined to even confirm or deny whether the 9/11 attacks were even discussed at President Biden’s recent meetings with Saudi leaders.
9/11 Families United also sent President Biden a letter on June 2nd after thousands of pages of new evidence regarding extremist elements in the Kingdom, including institutions that provided funding and support for the attacks, were released from President Biden’s own declassification order last year. Those documents were kept secret by the U.S. government for years. The majority of these documents were not available to the 9/11 Commission. CBS News reported in late April that the documents, for example, reveal how a Saudi intelligence operative – who was on the payroll of then-Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan and who is still living freely in the Kingdom – was a key part of the hijackers’ U.S-based support network.
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About 9/11 Families United:
9/11 Families United is an organization of family members of those murdered in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as many of those who survived, were injured in, or sickened from the attacks—a community of more than 10,000 people. More background and contact information can be found at www.911familiesunited.org.
